“Come on, man—I was freaked
out,” says pedal-steel guru Roosevelt
Collier of “hard rock gospel” band
the Lee Boys. “I was, like, ‘John
Scofield just left his coffee cup on
my table. Nobody better touch it!’” Such are the pleasures of life
when the incredible players
from the sacred-steel circuit
step beyond hallowed halls and
into the gentile world. “I had
the pleasure of him coming in
my room for about an hour and
talking about my background.
We played together and,
dude—it was sick.”

Lee Boys consists exclusively
of family members: brothers
Alvin (guitar), Derrick,
and Keith Lee (vocals), and
their nephews Alvin Cordy Jr.
(bass), Earl Walker (drums),
and Collier (pedal steel guitar).
From about age 7, they
all learned to play multiple
instruments and grew up
performing sacred-steel music
at the House of God Church
in Perrine, Florida. In 2000,
they lost two family members
who were significant musical
influences—Reverend Robert
E. Lee and Glenn Lee—and
from that point, they decided
to move beyond the walls of
the church. “The torch was
passed on,” Collier says. “That
was my cue and signal that it’s
time for me to take this to a
whole ’nother level. Everybody
felt the same way, and that’s
when we went full-fledged
onto the scene.”

In 2003, the Lee Boys had
their first big tour playing
the Blues to Bop Festival in
France and Switzerland. “We
were fresh on the scene, and
we went overseas first. That
was really big for us—I was
nervous, nervous as dirt,”
Collier recalls. “But the crowd
went crazy. They were up
dancing and praising.” By that
time, other sacred-steel acts
like Robert Randolph and the Campbell Brothers had already
made their mark, but the Lee
Boys hit the festival circuit
with a vengeance and quickly
developed a reputation for
their frenetic shows. In 2008,
after performing at Bonnaroo,
the band debuted on national
TV with a killer performance
on Conan O’Brien. “That year
was a turning point for us,”
Alvin says.

Alvin Lee (left) and Roosevelt Collier (right) jam with Warren Haynes on his Man in Motion tour at Atlanta’s Tabernacle in 2011. Photo by Lisa Keel/peachtreeimages.com

Not surprisingly, the Lee
Boys’ high-energy, improv-laden
live shows have made
them a favorite of the jam-band
scene, too. In addition
to trading licks with Sco,
they’ve shared the stage with
some of that genre’s brightest
stars including Victor Wooten, Soulive’s Eric Krasno, and
Warren Haynes. The latter, in
particular, was instrumental
in getting the band into the
spotlight. “He let us jam on
his sets with Gov’t Mule, gave
us an opportunity to play with
the Allman Brothers Band,
and also let us open up for his
band,” notes Alvin.

Haynes also signed the Lee
Boys to Evil Teen, a label he
co-owns, and made a guest
appearance on Testify, the
band’s latest release. Virtuoso
guitarist Jimmy Herring was
also enlisted to play on a
few tracks and turned up the
heat with his finger-twisting
lines. “There’s a saying that
if you want to be good, play with people that are better
than you,” says Collier.
“To play with Jimmy on the
same tracks—that upped my
game. Because of the stuff that
Jimmy was laying down, I had
to almost prove myself, you
know? I had to play my heart
out.” Collier is referring to
tracks like “Always by My Side”
and the title track “Testify,”
which showcases an incendiary
display of friendly fire, with
Herring’s country-fied lines
answered by Collier’s chromatically
ascending patterns.

New York City native Joe Charupakorn is a guitarist, author, and editor. He has interviewed the world’s biggest guitar icons including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Carlos Santana, Neal Schon, and Dave Davies, among many others, for Premier Guitar. Additionally, he has written over 20 instructional books for Hal Leonard Corporation. His books are available worldwide and have been translated into many languages. Visit him on the web at joecharupakorn.com.

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